Oretha Castle Haley

Oretha Castle Haley (July 22, 1939 – October 10, 1987) was an American civil rights activist in New Orleans where she challenged the segregation of facilities and promoted voter registration. She came from a working-class background, yet was able to enroll in the Southern University of New Orleans, SUNO, then a center of student activism. She joined the protest marches and went on to become a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Her home in Orleans Parish was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

Background The 1954 US Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, undermined the legal foundation of separate-but-equal racial segregation. The landmark court decision emboldened the cause for civil rights. The 1955 murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, and the subsequent miscarriage of justice drew national attention to the brutal and unfair treatment of African Americans in the South. In late 1955, the arrest of Rosa Parks led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted almost a year and its success launched the career of Martin Luther King and demonstrated the power of non-violent political action.

The first protest marches Oretha Castle participated in were sponsored by the Consumers League of Greater New Orleans (CLGNO). When Castle and several fellow protesters sought support to stage sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, both the Consumers League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took no interest. The CLGNO and NAACP were involved in sensitive litigations and negotiations and shunned the publicity. In the summer of 1960, Oretha Castle, Rudy Lombard and Jerome Smith pioneered their own organization and sought sponsorship from a national organization. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, was not active in New Orleans. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was the first activist group dedicated to non-violence founded in 1942 and based in Chicago. The newly formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) rapidly grew in prominence. SNCC's powerbase included the Nashville Student Movement founded by Diane Nash, John Lewis, James Bevel, and Bernard Lafayette. Castle and her cohorts chose to ally their local group with CORE, and developed their power base in New Orleans. SNCC and CORE both concentrated on street-level, direct-action activism, and are often compared. The NAACP, SLC, CORE and SNCC cooperated in many endeavors, and each are credited with playing a major role in the success of the Civil Rights Movement.

Lombard vs. Louisiana On September 17, 1960, Castle and three of her fellow student-protesters were arrested for sitting in at the counter of McCrory's, a Canal Street five-and-dime store in New Orleans. These protests were based on how stores in Central City "wouldn't hire black sales clerks or cashiers, in spite of the fact that the majority of customers in the shopping district were black". Oretha Castle, Cecil Carter, Sydney Goldfinch and Rudy Lombard were charged with criminal mischief, "which makes it a crime to refuse to leave a place of business after being ordered to do so by the person in charge of the premises".

The case was appealed and brought to the US Supreme Court. The USSC, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, overturned the ruling in an eight to one decision on May 20, 1963. In the opinion to the court Justice Warren indicated that due to the announcements made by public officials, restaurant owners had felt compelled to maintain segregated facilities even if it was not their will or official law. As a result, the court overturned the Trial Court and Louisiana State Supreme Court decisions.

As head of the New Orleans chapter of CORE, Oretha Castle's home served as the New Orleans headquarters for the Freedom Riders. With help from Oretha's mother Virgie and sister Doris, their home housed and fed hundreds of Freedom Riders coming and going throughout the summer. New Orleans CORE sponsored several Freedom Rides through Louisiana and Mississippi. When two Freedom Riders were beaten in New Orleans in early August, CORE staged a demonstration at Police Headquarters. Oretha Castle was one of fifteen arrested. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was delegated the task of solving the problem. He petitioned and pressured the Interstate Commerce Commission, ICC, and finally on November 1, the "whites only" signs were removed. The success of the Freedom Rides raised the profile and bolstered the reputation of CORE.

Toward the end of 1961 Rudy Lombard departed, and Oretha Castle was appointed president of the local chapter of CORE. A prominent fellow activist characterized her as "the guiding force . . . the backbone . . . a woman of extraordinary capabilities." CORE fractured in a dispute over criticizing the Viet Nam War, and many long-time leaders left the organization. The original members of the New Orleans chapter of CORE all quit by 1965, including Oretha Castle. CORE, led by Roy Innis, is still active in New York.

Castle returned to New Orleans in 1966 and re-enrolled at SUNO to complete her degree. Her grass-roots organizational experience qualified her to take the lead in several organizations sponsored by the Federal War on Poverty. She led a successful campaign to desegregate public playgrounds. In 1971, she led the election campaign of Dorothy Mae Taylor, who became the first African-American woman state legislator in Louisiana. In the 1980s, she served as deputy administrator of Charity Hospital where she instituted several reforms. While there, she was central in creating the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. Oretha remained married to Richard Haley until her death, caused by cancer, in 1987 at the age of 48.

In 2015, an exhibit called 'Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard: Past, Present and Future' opened, aiming to explore the "rich history and gentrification" of the area. In 2017 her namesake street won "The Great American Main Street Award".